52 ASPECTS OP TROPICAL NATURE 



arms, and now looking like a lake ; a dark forest-border, which 

 on so flat a ground seems at a distance like an artificial but 

 colossal hedge : these are the only elements of which the land- 

 scape is composed. No busy towns rise upon the banks, and it 

 is only at vast intervals that one finds a few wretched huts, 

 jwhich are soon again lost in the forest ; but a sky so brilliant 

 •spreads over the whole scene, and the rays of the sun beam 

 i upon a nature of such luxuriance, that the traveller, far from 

 ' feeling the voyage monotonous, proceeds on his journey with 

 increasing interest, and every morn salutes with new joy the 

 wilderness, reposing in the stillness of its early grandeur. 



The boat floats along, borne by the current of the river, 

 which, in the dry season, generally flows at the rate of four 

 English miles in an hour. Even during the night the journey 

 is usually continued, when no special danger claims a greater 

 caution, and a landing only takes place when the desire becomes 

 general to enjoy a perfectly quiet night's rest, or when a broad 

 sandy bank happens to be invitingly near: the raft is then 

 attached to the bank, and preparations are made for camping in 

 the wilderness. Grenerally an island is selected, as affording both 

 greater security from beasts of prey and a clearer ground; The 

 Indians are not obliged to fetch fire-wood from a distance, for 

 trees, drifted by the floods, are constantly found at the upper 

 end of the river-islands, where they remain until the next in- 

 undation once more raises them ; and thus many of them, 

 though born at the foot of the Andes, ultimately find their 

 way to the ocean, and by means of the Equatorial and Grulf 

 Streams,* perhaps even to the desert shores of Lapland, Spitz- 

 bergen, and Nowaya Semlya, The Indians, who are as fond of 

 sights as mogt other people, sometimes set fire to the whole 

 pile, and then the fire, taking an unexpected direction, may 

 force the company to flee as fast as possible to the raft, and to 

 settle in a safer place, while the flames continue to blaze over 

 the forest, or to cast a lurid light over the waters. 



Fires are frequently lighted for a more useful purpose on the 

 banks of the stream, as they never fail to attract a number of 

 large fishes, which the dexterous Indians know how to strike 

 with their harpoons. While some are thus engaged, others are 



* " The Sea and its Living Wonders/' p. 46. J" 



